QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court directed the provincial government on Friday to cancel the allocation of areas to Arab and other foreign dignitaries for hunting the rare houbara bustard and other birds in Balochistan.

A division bench of the BHC comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Ejaz Ahmed Swati issued the order on petitions filed by Balochistan Assembly’s former speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani and Malik Mohammad Saleem.

The petitioners contended that the hunting of houbara bustard was illegal and a violation of the Wildlife Conservation Convention.

After hearing arguments of the counsel for petitioners, additional advocate general and officials of the Balochistan government and ICUN, the court declared the orders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocating the areas as illegal and directed the provincial government to perform its duty in accordance with the law relating to hunting of houbara bustard and take measures to protect and preserve the endangered species.

The court ordered the secretary of Balochistan wildlife department to submit at the next hearing a report on the measures taken for the purpose.

The court directed that the copy of the order be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior, the chief secretary of Balochistan and the province’s secretary concerned for compliance.

The court was informed that the foreign ministry had allocated certain areas in the districts of Zhob, Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar, Kharan (excluding Nag Dera breeding area), Panjgur, Washuk, Khuzdar, Lasbela, Sibi, Bolan, Kila Saifullah and Samungali to dignitaries from the UAE in 2013-14.

The petitioners’ counsel said houbara bustard had been included in the list of endangered species prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and its hunting was prohibited.

They said that under the Balochistan Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act 2014, the wildlife within the territorial jurisdiction of the province belonged to the Balochistan government and, therefore, the federal government had no jurisdiction to allocate any area for hunting.

The court was informed that an area for the purpose of hunting was allocated for a maximum period of 10 days and the limit for hunting bird was 100.

A hunting party is required to report the figure to liaison officers deputed to it on a daily basis.

The hunting is allowed with certain instructions and code of conduct issued by the federal government. Therefore, hunting a limited number of birds will have no effect on the race of houbara bustard which is classified as “vulnerable” at the global level.

The court was informed that internationally it was observed that houbara bustard had undergone a rapid population decline owing largely to hunting. Keeping in view the fact, a convention on the conservation of migrating species of wildlife animals was held under the United Nations Environment Programme. The convention ended in 1979 in Bonn with an inter-governmental treaty signed by its members and enforced in 1983. Pakistan is a signatory to the convention.

The member states pledged to strive to protect endangered species and conserve or restore the places where they live, mitigate obstacles to migration and control other factors that may endanger them.

The foreign ministry issues licences to various Arab rulers, their families and other foreign dignitaries every year for hunting houbara bustard in Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Although limited hunting of the migrated bird is allowed, the dignitaries stay for over a month and hunt a large number of the birds.

A Saudi prince reportedly hunted over 2,000 houbara bustards in 21 days in Balochistan’s Chagai district last year.

Published in Dawn, November 29th , 2014